Casket-pedestal



(No Model.)

H. B. BELDEN 8: M. A. TAYLOR.

GASKET PEDESTAL.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- HARRY BELDEN AND MELVIN A. TAYLOR, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

CASKE T- PEDESTAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 406,191, dated July 2, 1889. Application filed February 6, 1889:. Serial No. 298,888. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY B. BELDEN and MELVIN A. TAYLOR, of Oakland, Alameda county, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Casket-Pedestals; and we hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the same.

Our invention relates to an improved casket-pedestal.

It consists of such a construction and arrangement of the shaft, base, and capital of a column-pedestal that it may be reversed, so as to present either side as the exterior at will.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of our invention, Figure 1 is a View of the pedestal. Fig. 2 is a view of the parts separated from each other. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the flexible outside covering for the shaft. Fig. 4 shows one of the rings K, with its spring.

For the purpose of supporting coffins pedestals of various descriptions have been employed, and it is customary to make these pedestals in black when used for elderly persons and in white when used for children. This necessitates the keeping of at least two separate sets of pedestals on hand, and as they are somewhat expensive we have designed a reversible pedestal in which either black or white may be made the exterior at will.

A is the base, which may be square or of any other suitable or desired shape. In the present case wehave shown this base as being made of wood covered upon the outside with nickel or silver-plated metal or any other suitable or desiredcoverin g, and it has a cross of metal fixed horizontally at the bottom, having a screw-threaded hub or center B for the reception of the rod which holds the parts together, as will be more fully described hereinafter. Into this base is fitted the plinth. This base is made double, there being two parts C and D, one upon each side of the plinth. One of these parts 0 is covered with black and the other part D with white. The plinth fitting into the base is supported upon shoulders E in the interior, so that when set in with either side up the other side will rest upon these shoulders and be firmly fixed within the base.

.into it equally well.

A central shaft F is fitted into the central portion of the reversible portion C D, which is slightly counterbored upon each side, so that whichever side is up the shaft will fit In order to make the exterior of the shaft we take as many cylindrical'or other suitably-shaped pieces G as may be necessary to form the outer circumference of the shaft, and these are covered with a fiexible covering II. This covering is made in two parts, one part being black to correspond with one portion of the base, and the other part white to correspond with the other portion, and in the present case the coverings are stitched through between the rigid strips G, so as to make a representation similar to a Corinthian column. It will be manifest, however, that it may represent a plain or other form of column equally well, the feature being the covering of the exterior and interior of the flexible outer portion with different-colored materials, so that it may be reversible and bent in either direction around the central shaft F, which it surrounds and incloses. This outer portion is in the form of a sheet, not connected together at the two 7 edges; but these edges are so arranged as to fold inwardly when the sheet has been wrapped around the central column, and

either surface maybe turned out-ward at will, 7

so as to show eitherawhite or black column. NVhen thus bent to fit around the central column F, this flexible covering is set into a countersunk portion of the basewhich surrounds the counter-bore in which the column F fits, and the lower end of the outer covering of the column is thus properly inclosed and panded or stretched when it is in place bymeans of the segments K. These segments are made three or more in number, and are supported upon springs L from the upper part of the interior column F, and are .pref erably made with telescopic connections L,

which allow them to be compressed sufficiently to remove the capital or to place it in position, and they are afterward expanded, so as to fill out the flexible intermediate portion J of the capital and make it rigid and a part of the capital. If it is desired to reverse this capital, it is done by simply removing it, and the lower ring I is sufficiently smaller than the upper one I to pass through it. The flexible portion J allows the capital to be reversed, so as to present the white side outward instead of the black. The cornice or entablature M is then placed upon the top of the capital, and the whole is secured together by a long bolt-rod N, which passes down through the whole of the'column, the lower end being screw-threaded so as to screw into the nut or hub B in the center of the base, as above described. This cornice or entablature as shown in the present case is made with the two sides similar, so that either one may be presented upwardly. One of these sides is covered with black material and the other with white, so that it may be reversed and either side presented upwardly. The central portion is somewhat depressed or countersunk from each side, and the square rod has a transverse handle 0 swiveled to its top by which to turn it. This handle may be turned up so as to be grasped by the fingers and turned for the purpose of screwing the rod into the base, and when this has been done so as to hold the parts firmly together this handle may lie flat within the countersunk depression, where it will be out of the way. The handle 0 also provides a convenient means for carrying the pedestal.

By this means a single set of pedestals may be used, one side representing black and the other white, when used for the purpose herein described, but if used for other purposes it would'be manifest that different colors may be employed, the essence of the invention being the reversibility of the parts of the pedestal, so as to present an outer surface of different colors.

Having thus described our invention,what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A pedestal or column consisting of the reversible base having the upper and lower surface of contrasting colors, the flexible and reversible capital, and the intermediate flexible and reversible column having an inner and outer surface of contrasting color, substantially as described.

2. The column having the plinth made reversible, with its inner and outer surfaces of contrasting colors, substantially as described.

3. The column, with the reversible base having an upper and lower surface of contrasting colors, the flexible reversible shaftcovering having an inner and outer surface of different colors, the reversible capital and cornice or entablature having its upper and lower surfaces of diiferent colors, substantially as described.

4. The reversible base, the shafts consisting of the longitudinal rigid strips having a flexible covering, so united between the strips that the covering may be bent into a circular form in either direction, and a capital formed of the upper and lower rigid rings and the intermediate flexible portion, so that these parts may be reversible, substantially as described.

5. The reversible capital consisting of the upper and lower rings with intermediate flexible portion, whereby the capital may be reversed so as to present either side outwardly, in combination with the circular segments fitted into the intermediate flexible portion of the capital, substantially as described.

6. The reversible base having its opposite sides of different color, the central shaft, and the surrounding flexible and reversible shaftcovering having its inner and outer surfaces of contrasting color, the reversible capital with the upper and lower rigid rings and the intermediate flexible one, in combination, with the segments mounted upon springs which are supported from the central column, said segments being fitted to expand and make rigid the intermediate flexible portion of the capital, substantially as described.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

HARRY l BELDEN. MELVIN A. TAYLOR. \Vitnesses:

E. M. KISTER, O. G. WoLco'rr.

will 

